Distribution: Eurasia. Tigris-Euphrates, Aleppo and Orontes water systems as well as in most waters of Israel.

Habitat: Acanthobrama telavivensis is found in warm ponds and slow-moving rivers in very dense populations. The character of the habitat and the way the fish appear in it is very similar to that of Pseudophoxinus zeregi (Heckel) in the Golan Heights. Recently, as a result of water pollution, A. telavivensis has been almost completely annihilated; only the populations at Rosh Ha’Ayin and N. Tut have survived. Feeds on plant material and small animals.